Welsh Castle Barns

Just as the  great monastic estates and secular manors had barns and granges to feed their communities, so too did the many fortified manors and castles. The barn was absolutely vital to the castle’s garrison to provide bread an beer during a seige. Many Welsh castles have barns built against the curtain wall to protect this vital resource.

Like the other two, the barn at Llansteffan Castle is sited on the curtain wall.

The barn in the bailley of Manorbier Castle (below) has a dwelling at one end. The chimney stack in the centre of the picture shows that at one time the whole of the barn was converted to dwellings.

Kidwelly Castle (above) in Carmarthenshire, Wales makes an impressive sight on its high bluff above the River Gwendraeth. The planned Norman town of Kidwelly still has its town gate. The large barn sits in the curtain wall above a steep slope down to the river.